Summit: ‘inconvenience’ a threat to rule of law – LCJ

‘Inconvenience’ is among the greatest threats to an effective defence of the rule of law and the protection of Magna Carta’s key guiding principles, the lord chief justice Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd told delegates at the opening of the Global Law Summit.

Inconvenience, Thomas said, ‘can tempt us to place improper fetters’ on the mechanisms by which justice is achieved. ‘It can turn our minds from the increasing burdens people experience in enforcing their rights,' he added.

The summit, Thomas said, would focus the minds of those present on modern day mechanisms by which government deals fairly with its citizens, and protects their ability to resolve disputes between one another.

Thomas challenged those present to consider how clauses 39 and 50 of Magna Carta, concerning the rule of law and access to justice, should apply to the modern challenges of financial services regulation and the Internet – how we regulate and justly enforce the rule of law.